THE COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES 421 



& the capturing of the fish on or near their breeding ground before 

 they have spawned; & urging vehemently the passage of laws for 

 preventing or regulating the employment of nets or weirs. 



State action has been invoked at various times, for the purpose 

 of securing a remedy for the evil in question; but owing to conflicting 

 interests and the influence of powerful parties who are concerned in 

 maintaining the present mode of fishing, little has been accomplished, 

 especially in view of the impression that seems to prevail with many, 

 that the subject, if requiring legislation at all, must be provided for, 

 in part at least, by the General Government, which controls the 

 waters in which the fish are captured. 



The official inquiries into this subject have hitherto been mainly 

 prosecuted by Committees of State Legislatures, before which persons 

 interested, either in maintaining the nets or in abolishing them, have 

 alone been summoned to give testimony. As might be expected, in 

 a matter which involved the occupation and support of the parties 

 examined, the evidence was directly contradictory; and it is not to 

 be wondered at if diametrically opposite conclusions were reached, 

 as in the case of the Massachusetts Committee, which saw no reason 

 to interfere with the nets, and that of the Committees of Rhode 

 Island and Connecticut, which recommended their immediate and 

 peremptory removal. I think, however, that the mean lies between 

 the two extremes and that a proper investigation will show a time, 

 when the use of the nets should be suspended, so as not to interfere 

 with the breeding fish, while the capture of the full grown ones may 

 be permitted at another period. Millions of dollars are invested in 

 the fish pounds and nets, and in the manure and guano establish- 

 ments, dependent upon them for materials; and so important an 

 interest should not be struck down at a blow, if a satisfactory com- 

 promise can be effected. 



Before intelligent legislation can be initiated, however, and meas- 

 ures taken that will not unduly oppress or interfere with interests 

 already established, it is necessary that a careful, scientific research 

 be entered upon, for the purpose of determining what should really 

 be done; since any action presupposes a knowledge of the history 

 and habits of the fish of our coast, that, I am sorry to say, we do not 

 at present possess. We must ascertain, among other facts, at what 

 time the fish reach our coast, and during what period they remain; 



